Neustar Just Reached In And Grabbed My Domain...!!

[DomainTalker]

I had iTits.us registered at GoDaddy a few months ago....The domain was locked....Then, out of the blue, I got an email from Godaddy referring to a change to my registration details for iTits.us...

I replied by email straight away to GoDaddy, saying that I had authorised NO changes to my registration of that domain - and to please ensure that it was not interfered with (I feared someone was trying to steal it).....I got a reply saying that changes had happened...


I called GoDaddy - and, at first, they said they 'didn't understand' what had happened....Then, said 'Well, that domain is on the move...'!!...But, no info as to who was 'moving it' etc.....I was explicit to them to make sure that iTits.us did not move.

...I called GoDaddy a second time, asking for a guarantee that they would ensure iTits.us stayed in my GoDaddy account until I - the account holder - personally, authorised, any change of status.....Only then did they tell me Neustar (the .US registry) was taking it....!!!!


I called Neustar....They simply said: 'iTits.us breaks the rules - it contains one of the seven words banned by Neustar for .us domains - ie the word 'Tits'.....And that was that...!!

...My bought & paid for domain - iTits.us - was gone....!!...Neustar just reached into my personal account at Go Daddy - and grabbed a LOCKED domain from my account, and there was, apparantly, nothing I could do about it...!!


I understand that, if I inadvertently broke the rules with that name, then there should be discussion...perhaps, a negotiation...and I may even lose the domain etc...


But, on principal, I'm against two things here:


(i) That a Registry (or anyone, for that matter) can just TAKE (steal?) a registered, bought, and paid-for, locked, domain from your account - without notification, or notice, or negotiation, or the courtesy of a word.


(ii) That a Registrar - like GoDaddy - could ALLOW anyone to interfere with your LOCKED domains that they hold on their servers - And, allow them to take it out of your account.....Otherwise, what's the point of locked domains...???


How secure is that...???....Where's the integrity - and proper process....?


Yes, GoDaddy's auto system told me something was happening....And, after I complained - again - they did refund my registration fee...But, they did nothing to stop it being grabbed....Indeed, for it to happen at all, they (as the Registrar) had to have even facilitated the process....


This makes me feel pretty nervous about the integrity, and security, of the domain system...


Any thoughts...?

.

 

[Krossat]

Thats what makes it different from tangible property i guess.
This is on lease, we never owned it in the first place

 

[npcomplete]

Thats what makes it different from tangible property i guess.
This is on lease, we never owned it in the first place

Excellent... Excellent.

The amazing thing is that we can still sell our rights to lease. I suppose a good read of the terms of service would be quite telling for many cctld's. A lot of people just click away at the "yes I agree" button without understanding or even reading what they agree to.

One does have to wonder, however, how far this search for words buried within a domain carries with the registry. The usual test of perception by a reasonable person carries in this particular case, but one does have to wonder where the line is drawn for searching for offensive substrings within a general phrase.

Marc

 

[DomainTalker]

Yes, I understand that, Krossat...

...But, perhaps, Registries - like Neustar - should simply not put names on the public market for registration (or lease) - like iTits.us - if they don't want them to be registered?


If a product (a domain) is offered for registration on the open market, then its implied that it IS offered for registration (or lease)...They should not be allowed, imo, to renege on that implied offer, after the fact...


Also, Registrars, like Godaddy, should not be allowed to offer for registration (or lease) domain names that any Registry ordains are unsuitable for their extension...


It was offered for registration (lease) - I bought it (leased it) in good faith...I should be allowed to keep it, imo...


There's an important principal at stake here...


Its a misleading situation....When we register a domain in good faith, we are entitled, imo, to have confidence that we can use that domain....On the strength of that confidence, we may invest a LOT of money developing that domain...

...We can't then have a situation where - later - a Registry says: 'Ooops, we don't like the domain you registered (in good faith) in our extension - so - sorry - we'll take it back...'...


This is - and would be - market chaos....not a responsible stewardship of the domain market place by an important Registry, imo......I feel this behaviour doesn't reflect well on the custodianship of the .US extension...

.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

I have to say that it does sound a bit wierd for a registry to randomly pick domains out of the registry to take back.

However, we do own the domains, we dont really just lease them... if we pay for their registration, it is our ownership for as long as we like.

 

[accent]

It is a lease, and they can take it back, unless a court tells them otherwise - more of the "I'll do it until you make me stop" thinking that has defined much of the US government.....

I have owned US domains for two years, never knew there were seven words. Who knows what lurks inside? But it!t is pretty clear ---- and would be acceptable in .Com, .Net and so on, far as I can see. Certainly there are a lot of domains that go a lot further than that. I l!ke t!ts, anyway.

At least they gave your money back - but I bet that was Godaddy looking out for their PR, not the registry.

 

[italiandragon]

I had iTits.us registered at GoDaddy a few months ago....The domain was locked....Then, out of the blue, I got an email from Godaddy referring to a change to my registration details for iTits.us...

I replied by email straight away to GoDaddy, saying that I had authorised NO changes to my registration of that domain - and to please ensure that it was not interfered with (I feared someone was trying to steal it).....I got a reply saying that changes had happened...


I called GoDaddy - and, at first, they said they 'didn't understand' what had happened....Then, said 'Well, that domain is on the move...'!!...But, no info as to who was 'moving it' etc.....I was explicit to them to make sure that iTits.us did not move.

...I called GoDaddy a second time, asking for a guarantee that they would ensure iTits.us stayed in my GoDaddy account until I - the account holder - personally, authorised, any change of status.....Only then did they tell me Neustar (the .US registry) was taking it....!!!!


I called Neustar....They simply said: 'iTits.us breaks the rules - it contains one of the seven words banned by Neustar for .us domains - ie the word 'Tits'.....And that was that...!!

...My bought & paid for domain - iTits.us - was gone....!!...Neustar just reached into my personal account at Go Daddy - and grabbed a LOCKED domain from my account, and there was, apparantly, nothing I could do about it...!!


I understand that, if I inadvertently broke the rules with that name, then there should be discussion...perhaps, a negotiation...and I may even lose the domain etc...


But, on principal, I'm against two things here:


(i) That a Registry (or anyone, for that matter) can just TAKE (steal?) a registered, bought, and paid-for, locked, domain from your account - without notification, or notice, or negotiation, or the courtesy of a word.


(ii) That a Registrar - like GoDaddy - could ALLOW anyone to interfere with your LOCKED domains that they hold on their servers - And, allow them to take it out of your account.....Otherwise, what's the point of locked domains...???


How secure is that...???....Where's the integrity - and proper process....?


Yes, GoDaddy's auto system told me something was happening....And, after I complained - again - they did refund my registration fee...But, they did nothing to stop it being grabbed....Indeed, for it to happen at all, they (as the Registrar) had to have even facilitated the process....


This makes me feel pretty nervous about the integrity, and security, of the domain system...


Any thoughts...?

.

If the .US ccTLD has that rule, there is nothing you or anyone could do , you simply did not know the ruls.

How about you being in Australia mate?

I can`t reg .US names......can you?

 

[wot]

I can only assume that Tits in the US are verbotten - uplifting to say the least.

 

[bricio]

However, we do own the domains, we dont really just lease them... if we pay for their registration, it is our ownership for as long as we like.

for me it is a lease... do you remember .la 2 characters?
they simply emailed the owners that yhey wont be allowed to renew them, period.
do you own them?
i really dont think so

maybe it is something between property and lease that the experts didnt give a name yet but as very well said by npcomplete you cant go straight to the "yes, i agree" button... read the TOS before finishing the purchase
some days ago i reg'd a ccTLD at moniker and there was a warning but the window didnt open... what did i do? i just called them

if neustar doesnt allow that and domaintalker didnt read the TOS i think the mistake is that neustar allowed a reg that it itself doesnt allow!!!
it would be better if they just said in a message it isnt allowed or they could just do as these guys (go to "new domain name" and type f**c or p***y) :lol:

 

[Fundraiser]

Registration Review Policy
Policy Statement by usTLD Administrator
April 22, 2002 as amended on June 22, 2006.
The usTLD Administrator will follow a policy to preserve and enhance the value of the .US Internet address to all users, including, in particular, state and local governments, libraries and K-12 schools. Given the importance of .US as a national public resource, certain guidelines must apply. Therefore, the usTLD Administrator will review, for possible deletion by the Registry, all registered second-level and locality domain names that contain, within the characters of the domain name registration, any of the seven words identified in Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct. 3026, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978), the “Seven Words”.

They call it a "review" policy because it may make more sense to allow registrations due to the fact that it is impossible or not practical to just block a string of letters that otherwise might be a part of an acceptable word under this policy - at least for one or two of the banned words. Some would take a whole lot of creativity to make into an "acceptable" domain name.

Below is a link to a brief Wikipedia article on the case which includes the "seven words" which are based on a George Carlin comedy routine. I wonder how many children have access to Wikipedia where they can read up on the seven words that they cannot type before .US? I don't have a problem with the policy - rules are rules and it is important to read the registry agreements and policies - but it seems funny to select just those seven when there are so many others floating around. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Communications_Commission_v._Pacifica_Foundation

 

[MadAboutDomains]

To me a solid .COM, .NET, .ORG, .DE, .UK is ownership, I've never known those pulling tricks like this.

 

[Kate]

It's not the first time such a thing happens... that's the 7-word rule.
Tits is in the list
Personally I find that kind of political interference to be stupid - so much for the land of the not so free...

 

[Mark]

Just think of the mess this would make if You sold the domain for a few Grand ........ AND Then it was pulled

 

[italiandragon]

how about if he had a company called:

IT ITS ?

 

[Fundraiser]

To me a solid .COM, .NET, .ORG, .DE, .UK is ownership, I've never known those pulling tricks like this.

From .de:
§ 7 Termination

(1) The Domain Contract shall be concluded for an indefinite period. It shall be possible for the Domain Holder to terminate it at any time without prior notice.

(2) It shall only be permitted for DENIC to terminate the contract on substantial grounds. These grounds shall include, in particular, any case in which
a) the domain itself includes a manifestly illegal statement;


There is a list of other reasons but I point this out that .de domains can be taken with no fees owed to the registrant if the domain contains an "illegal" statement.

From Nominet .uk:

10. A domain name is not an item of property and has no ‘owner’. It is an entry on our register database reflected by our nameservers which we provide as part of this contract.

Again, merely pointing out that there are risks in this business regarding what you own or don't own and what can be taken back. I have no knowledge of any domains taken back by these registries while I know of quite a number of stories about domains taken back by the .us registry as instructed by the policies of the US Department of Commerce.

 

[PowerUp]

It's not the first time such a thing happens... that's the 7-word rule.
Tits is in the list
Personally I find that kind of political interference to be stupid - so much for the land of the not so free...

Which are the 7 words? tits is one of them, what are the other 6?

 

[namebug]

Is the list the same as the Carlin routine ? I can still remember that classic routine, about tits not even deserving to be on the list.

 

[Kate]

Which are the 7 words? tits is one of them, what are the other 6?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words

 

[Sleepys]

The Chinese Government does take back .CN domains that they deem "inapropriate".
I know that it happens, so I thought that I would just throw that in there.

 

[floatingworld]

I'm sorry you had your tits pulled without permission. Possibly you could concentrate on nipple domains as they are apparently quite acceptable to .us